Wikipedia Ditches Google Maps

Following the lead of Foursquare and Apple, Wikipedia has bid adieu to Google Maps in favor of the crowd-sourced mapping platform OpenStreetMap.

Following the lead of Foursquare and Apple, Wikipedia has bid adieu to Google Maps in favor of the crowd-sourced mapping platform OpenStreetMap.

Wikipedia this week released an all-new version of its iOS app and an update for its two month-old Android app, replacing Google Maps with data from OpenStreetMap, the so-called "Wikipedia for maps."

"This closely aligns with our goal of making knowledge available in a free and open manner to everyone," Wikipedia's parent organization, the Wikimedia Foundation, wrote in a blog post Thursday. "This also means we no longer have to use proprietary Google APIs in our code, which helps it run on the millions of cheap Android handsets that are purely open source and do not have the proprietary Google applications."

Foursquare, when announcing the change, said it initially started looking for a new mapping solution due to the price of Google Maps. Google this year began charging for high-volume use of its formerly free Maps API.

Now, some are speculating that Apple may be looking to even further distance itself from Google Maps in the future. A purported leaked image said to be from Apple's yet-to-be-released iOS 6.0 appears to to indicate that Cupertino is planning to also use OpenStreetMap in the next version of its mobile operating system, Macworld UK reported. Cupertino has made a number of mapping investments in recent years, most recently acquiring the a 3D mapping company C3 Technologies.

Meanwhile, Google this week released a new app for Android users called Flood Plan Marker in an effort to improve the accuracy of its indoor maps. The app will allow business owners who have uploaded their facility's floor plans to help Google collect data such as Wi-Fi hotspots and nearby cell towers.

Angela has been a PCMag reporter since January 2012. Prior to joining the team, she worked as a reporter for SC Magazine, covering everything related to hackers and computer security. Angela has also written for The Northern Valley Suburbanite in New Jersey, The Dominion Post in West Virginia, and the Uniontown-Herald Standard in Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of West Virginia University's Perely Isaac Reed School of Journalism.
More »